The Biggest Shopping Weekend of the Year!

I love Thanksgiving. I love everything about it. I love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with my kids. I love spending time with my family, laughing together in the living room while in the background the Lions find new and interesting ways to lose another game and the smell of cooking turkey and stuffing wafts in from the kitchen. I love sitting back and drinking a post-dinner cup of coffee while deciding whether or not to eat another piece of pie, or whether to simply wait a few hours so it will be as enjoyable as it is delicious. I love how easy it is, looking around the room and listening to the sounds of my children playing, to find reasons to be thankful.

Many people find it ironic that, on the heels of this wonderful day of togetherness and thankfulness, we spend the early hours of Friday standing in line, nearly freezing to death as we wait for the stores to open, so we can push, shove, scream, cajole, and fight our way to whatever big sale brought us there in the first place. How the Rockwellian family portrait of Thanksgiving gives way to the materialistic, consumer-driven chaos of Black Friday.

Even more ironic, perhaps, is that all this insane materialism is in celebration of a small child, born in poverty, the very incarnation of God on earth, who grew into a Man, a prophet, and a Savior for the entire world.

As the Biggest Shopping Day of the Year creeps into the entire weekend, and on into Cyber-Monday, let us remember what's truly important -- not only during the Christmas season, but for the entire year. And let us be an example for the rest of the world, in our love, joy, and thanksgiving for what Christ has done, and for what God gives us every single day.

Philippians 4:5-7

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.